Louisiana State Superintendent John White gives his "Louisiana Believes" presentation to the Lafayette Parish School Board during a meeting in 2012.

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BATON ROUGE -- After a more than 6-hour hearing, members of the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education approved a new education funding formula for next school year that sends money to private schools for vouchers and changes the way special education is funded.

Superintendent of Education John White altered the way the funding formula, referred to as the Minimum Foundation Program (MFP), which sends state money to school systems. Basically, the state pays 65 percent of the costs for public education and local governments pay 35 percent, but some wealthier parishes pick up a larger ...